Liivimaa valgustaja August Wilhelm Hupel, 1737-1819 by Indrek Jürjo Aufklärung im Baltikum. Leben und Werk des livländischen Gelehrten August Wilhelm Hupel (1737-1819) by Indrek Jürjo (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 163 theUpper House, and from royal court judges and representatives of royal free towns in theLower House. However, both tax proposals and the nature of promises and oaths made by monarchs on their coronation were often challenged by representatives of the counties. Szij?rt? finds the core of this county party opposition among deputies from eastern counties which had high proportions of Protestants. For example, he details the response of theLower House to a request to raise taxes inJuly 1728. While the votes of clergy and townswere divided over how to respond, only five of twentywestern counties supported the court's request, and none of the twenty-one eastern counties voted in favour (p. 174). The court attempted to weaken this Protestant opposition by withdrawing the right of the estates to interfereon matters of religion. However, Szij?rt? argues that this decision had the long-term effect of creating a broader base of opposition to the crown on a non-confessional basis. Nevertheless, the estates stillhardly presented a united political front. Time in both houses was, for example, spent arguing over precedence in seating, including disputes between representatives of the towns of Buda and Pozsony (p. 104). Szij?rt?'s arguments about the institutional and political development of the diet are supported by a great deal of information in extensive appendices. The weight of detail about, for example, the timetable ofmeetings will not perhaps be of great interest to non-specialist readers. However, there are also some points of broader concern. For example, Szij?rt?'s discussion of the diet's procedures reveals that its famous use of Latin for formal business masks the fact that itwas in reality a bi-lingual institution (p. 135). Overall, he suggests that across the eighteenth century there was a steady shift of power from theUpper to theLower House. In addition, he argues that as the diet's business came increasingly to be conducted in preparatory committees, the voices of county deputies steadily acquired greater prominence. Szij?rt? concludes that the growing political power of these gentry representatives was critical to the revival of the diet from the end of the eighteenth century. Szij?rt?'s arguments are based on close study of archival and other sources, and presented in the context of both Hungarian and wider European histori ography on the relationship between crown and estates during this period, which adds greatly to the value of this thorough and thoughtful study. Department of Modern History GraemeMurdock Universityof Birmingham J?rjo, Indrek. Liivimaa valgustajaAugustWilhelm Hupel, 1J3J-181Q [Enlighten ment in theBaltic: August Wilhelm Hupel 1737-1819]. Riigiarhiiv, Tallin, 2004. 556 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. English Summary. 28.00. J?rjo, Indrek. Aufkl?rung imBaltikum. Leben undWerk des livl?ndischen Gelehrten August Wilhelm Hupel (iy^y-i8ig). Quellen und Studien zur baltischen Geschichte, 19.B?hlau, K?ln, Weimar, Wien, 2006. x + 466 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. 44.90. Livonia, the south-eastern corner of the Baltic, was conquered by Russia from Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700-21). The conflict decimated the 164 SEER, 86, I, 2008 area's population and seriously damaged itsculture ? the Swedish university at Dorpat/Tartu, for example, disappeared. Over the following century the region ? now divided into the Imperial provinces of Esdand and Liefland ? gradually recovered, while the dominant Baltic-German land- and serf owning elite consolidated its position. The provinces' cultural and religious needs, however, were largely supplied from theGerman lands. Baltic-German students studied at German universities and, more importantly, many German graduates came seeking posts in Livonia as tutors and pastors and in other professions. These literati brought contemporary European ideas and knowledge to Russia's new north-western territories; they often remained connected with the European 'republic of letters', and constituted a bridge between Russia and the rest of Europe furtherwest. They were principal bearers of the Enlightenment in Livonia, which was distinct from but had many connections with cultural developments in Russia proper. August Wilhelm Hupel is a preeminent exemplar of this type.A pastor's son from theDuchy of Sachsen-Weimar, educated inWeimar and Jena, he came to Livonia in 1757, aged twenty-one, as a family tutor. In due time...